SECRET SAUCE IS A FOR PROFIT COMPANY WHOSE MISSION IS TO INVEST RESOURCES, CREATIVITY AND STRATEGY IN SURPRISING AND TIMELY INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARIES, FEATURE FILMS AND OTHER MEDIA PROJECTS.
Secret Sauce primarily invests in projects directed or co-directed by women, from first time to more veteran filmmakers, with an eye to inclusion & representation on screen. Julie believes the “Secret Sauce” behind any given project is the filmmaker/ producer team and their unique access to the story & characters. The company was founded and is headed by Julie Parker Benello, a Co-Founder of both Chicken & Egg Films and Gamechanger Films. Julie Executive Produces or Produces depending on her level of engagement on each project. Secret Sauce funds at the development, production and post production stage contingent on the filmmaker and project’s needs.
JULIE PARKER BENELLO
FOUNDER/PRODUCER
Julie is the Founder of Secret Sauce Media, her latest venture to produce and invest in surprising and timeless film projects. She co-founded Chicken & Egg Films in 2005 with a shared belief that diverse women and gender expansive nonfiction storytellers have the power to catalyze change at home and around the globe. She produced Academy Award®, Gotham, and Independent Spirit-winning feature documentary American Factory as well as Emmy® Award-winning USA Gymnastics documentary – Athlete A, both streaming on Netflix. Most recently, she Executive Produced Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni’s Sundance 2025 World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury prize winner Cutting Through Rocks and Violet Feng’s The Dating Game. In 2024, she Executive Produced Lana Wilson’s latest film Look Into My Eyes about psychic mediums and their clients which premiered at Sundance and was released theatrically by A24 and is on HBO Max. Julie lives in San Francisco, is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Documentary Branch and the Producers Guild of America.